NewsBITS Archive
A Message from ITS Director Samer Madanat
I write these lines at the start of an academic year that promises to be very interesting for the field of transportation research and for the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Berkeley....
Carbon-busting Strategies for California: TSRC helps state meet stringent emissions reduction goals
The Transportation Sustainability Research Center, one of the Institute’s youngest research centers, recently delivered two reports to the state's Air Resources Board (ARB) and the California Department of Transportation that may profoundly alter California's landscape in coming decades.
Plus:
Fresh New Faces: Meet Incoming Students
Berkeley Transportation Alumnus Named to Prominent US DOT Research Post
Tools for Operational Planning
A new group of simulation tools will allow engineers to quickly diagnose sick transportation corridors, then prescribe the best fixes for congestion, bottlenecks, and other delays on freeways and surrounding arterials.
Going Beyond the Numbers
An interview with incoming TSC Director Simon Washington on traffic safety myths and the importance of correcting them.
New ITS Faculty Member
Dan Chatman joins Department of City and Regional Planning.
Plus:
New Six-Campus Transportation Sustainability Research initiative Funded by UCOP
Simon Washington Assumes Leadership of TSC
CCIT Wins 2009 Tranny Award
...and more.
Q&A with Robert Cervero
UCTC's new director talks about the future of transit-oriented development
Transportation Dissertations at UC Berkeley: 15-Year Look Back
This 15-year retrospective of transportation-related dissertations reflects the changing themes in the Berkley transportation research community.
A Bullet Train for California?
In November 2008 California passed a nearly $10-billion bond issue.To understand some of the issues, ITS presented a symposium on the subject in October 2009. Moderated by ITS Director Samer Madanat, five faculty panelists described the major issues as they see them.
When Bigger Trucks Aren’t Better
Commonly held beliefs about the greenest way to move freight may be wrong. Working with ITS faculty, post doc
Nakul Sathaye discovered unintended consequences of moving freight in larger vehicles and during off-peak
hours.
Plus:
SafeTrec: The Traffic Safety Center Has a New Name and a New Website
Read the ISTTT Publications Update.
Director's Message
ITS Director Samer Madanat returns from sabbatical with a new ITS collaboration with the City of Amman, Jordan
Joan Walker: Former undergrad joins ITS faculty
Joan Walker remembers her undergraduate days at Berkeley, but teaches students how to look into the future.
How Mikhail Chester Makes It Easier to Be Green
Think you know which transportation mode leaves the most environmentally friendly footprint.
Plus:
ITS welcomed 34 new graduate transportation and planning students from eight countries.
Director's Message
Acting Director Mike Cassidy announced new developments at CCIT, PATH. the Volvo Center, and TSRC.
Sitting on the Tarmac: Reducing Delays at Keenedy, LaGuardia, and Newark Airports
NEXTOR leads a discussion among key aviation players at the 2008 TRB annual meeting.
Leaving on a Jet Plan
Jasenka Rakas' airport design students grapple with real-world, real-time aviation issues in her popular CE 153 class.
We'll Take Manhattan: Berkeley's High Profile at 15th Annual ITS World Congress in NYC
PATH and CCIT brought high-tech demos to city streets, and TSRC's researchers moderated four panels and delivered eight talks at the conference.
Cracking Congestion: Mode by Mode Around the Globe
Vikash Gayah, Ilgin Guler, Josh Pilachowski, Celeste Chavis, Eric Gonzales, and Yiguang Xuan are some of the ITS students researching solutions to urban traffic congestion in three countries.
Gender and Mobility: Clark University's Susan Hanson delivers Third Annual Martin Wachs Distinguished Lecture in Transportation
Hanson, former director of Clark’s School of Geography, is a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences and winner of the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Van Cleef Medal from the American Geographical Society for Innovative work in urban geography. Her talk, “Gender and Mobility: A Feminist Geographer’s Perspective,” doubled as a kick-off for the City and Regional Planning Department’s 60th anniversary celebration
Plus:
Adib Kanafani is named a lifetime National Associate of the National Research Council for his service.
Joan Walker Wins National Science Foundation Award.
Adib Kanafani named the 2009 Chairman of the TRB Executive Committee.
"Tackling Congestion in an Era of Climate Change": 2nd Annual California University Transportation Centers-California PATH Conference, November 6-7, 2008
...and more
Samer Madanat's Director's Message
NASA Ames Aviation Research Partnership, Sustainable Fuels Working Group, Chengdu Transit—and more.
Chengdu Urban Sustainability Project
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation funds work.
NEXTOR's Air Traffic Control Partnership with NASA Ames
UC Berkeley Arm of the National Center of Excellence for Aviation Operations Research branches out.
ITS at the 2007 Meeting of the Transportation Research Board
Link to an interactive program
PATH @ 20
Anniversary is celebrated with symposium and gala events.
Director's Message
Acting Director Mike Cassidy announces new personnel and other change at ITS.
PATH-UCT Conference
Farrell on Sustainable Biofuels
The TSRC director told transportation planners and engineers that the biofuels industry is undergoing rapid transportation and that public policies need to catch up.
Harley on Decadal Changes in Emissions, Overlooked Pollutants That Are Gaining Fast
That smell that comes out of bus tailpipes? Its source was a centerpiece of Robert Harley's presentation.
Plus:
ITS Welcomes New Students
HIghlights of the 2007 World Conference on Transport Research
Nobel Laureate Daniel McFadden gives keynote Address, "The Behavioral Science of Transportation."
The 2007 Dupuit Prize is awarded to to Moshe Ben-Akiva, of MIT, for lifetime achievement.
Counting Cars (and More) with PeMS
The story of the development of PeMS illustrates how ITS Berkeley and its affiliated centers take a researcher's idea, develop it, deploy and test it, and then send it on its way for use in the wide world.
Our Summer Students from American University of Beruit and Howard University
There are some new faces this summer from Beruit and Washington, D.C.
HOV Lanes Work Better than Motorists Think
A new study disputes earlier findings that examined six freeway sites in the Bay Area and concluded that HOV lanes were responsible for increasing congestion and should be eliminated.
Software that Speeds Up Pavement Rehabilitation
The Pavement Research Center's Construction Analysis for Pavement Rehabilitation Strategies (CA4PRS) software program saves time and money and cuts congestion on complex freeway paving
Lost in Translation: an Award-Winning, Provocative Paper on Traffic Safety in Hanoi
Wendy Tao, a student in the concurrent Master of Science/Master of City and Regional Planning transportation program, won the top prize in the 2007 American Planning Association Transportation Planning Division Student Paper Competition for her analysis of traffic safety in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Getting Aviation on the Bus
The massive weather-related disruptions this winter that led to profuse apologies (and refund offers) from airline CEOs might have been avoided. All the airlines had to do was cancel some flights into the socked-in airports and put their passengers on a bus, using "real-time intermodal substitution" (RTIMS) as developed by ITS NEXTOR.
Traffic Safety Center Builds on Its First Five Years
Building research and practice, helping traing new professionals, and advising California agencies on key new federal legislation.
First Wachs Lecture: Flybjerg on Megaprojects
Pop quiz. Which of the following five megaprojects DID NOT run over budget and DID NOT result in fewer benefits than forecast? China's Three Gorges Dam, Iraq reconstruction, the EuroTunnel, the Space Shuttle, or Bilbao's Guggenheim Museum.
Plus:
Welcome New Students
ITS Affiliated Program
Civil Systems Program Takes Off
Large systems like road and air transport networks have long been the province of transportation engineers, who design and build them. But now technology is providing new tools that enable civil engineers to substantially expand their scope.
Transportation Sustainability Research at UC Berkeley
The study of transportation sustainability seeks to develop ways in which transportation can tread as lightly as possible on finite resources and have the least harmful consequence for the natural and human environments, largely by taking fullest advantage of renewable resources for energy, manufacture and operations and restricting harmful emissions.
Message from the Director
The explosive growth in demand for transportation worldwide has made sustainability a central policy-making concern.
Plus:
Helping Africa Take to the Skies: Visiting Scholar Bridget Ssamuta explores and hub-and-spoke system for the continent.
NEXTOR presents Third National Airspace Systems Performance workshop.
The Women of Berkeley ITS
Berkeley transportation Ph.D. alumnae comment on their
career paths in academia and what the future holds for the
next generation of women in transportation.
Plus:
Next Generation Simulation (NGSIM)
Message from the Director
X Marks the Spot
Many disciplines team together for intersection safety
Plus:
MVP Air: A niche airline for student athletes
The Beer Game and the Bullwhip: Astonishing Results When Carlos Daganzo Applies
Traffic Flow Theory to Supply Chains.